Diana's Calling
by Burst-in-Flames Tiger
Summary: A short story about the inhabitants of The School for Gifted Juveniles. DRV3. No, there are no deeper meaning to this.


"Shuichi."

The doorbell rang on me a few times. Making the same repetition of noise that was seriously grating in my ears. It wasn't really that bad, but it was obnoxious enough that I can't stand it anymore. He was sure that he should be getting up from his bed and walk to the door and open it, but he just wasn't ready to leave his room.

Opening the door, he found himself face to face with Monokuma. Reflexively, he looked down and found the white-black bear to be silently looking at him. Looking up, the bear pulled out a closed white envelope containing a letter inside it to him. When Shuichi looked back to where Monokuma was, the bear's already gone into hiding.

 _Shuichi, come to my lab_

 _-Kaede_

It was all that was contained in the letter. Nodding, he slipped the letter into his pocket and walked out of his dormroom. He was still sleepy, and so found himself blinking once or twice before finally sobering up. Unnoticed by him was Rantaro Amami, walking back into his room, presumably to hole himself in from the others.

Exiting the dorm, he found himself in the courtyard. Shuichi spotted Ryoma being chased by Kirumi. Something about him ditching his turn on washing the dishes again. It had been going for two days now, something about Ryoma being too short to reach the dishwashers, so Kirumi always tried to pull him up so he can reach the sink better. Maybe it was on Ryoma's part that he didn't want to feel that shamed atop anything else, he was the sort of guy who'd thought about his appearance first and foremost.

Entering the academy, he found himself before Angie, Tenko, and Kiyo arguing about which mountains were the best to be climbed and at what time. Himiko was standing out of the loop, half-lazy about the subject presented to her or she wasn't really too keen to speak her own opinion about it. To be fair, it was a pretty dumb argument. For the record, Angie answered that a low mountain with a pre-made path at night fit her the best, Tenko answered that a steep and rocky mountain in the day fit herself the best, while Korekiyo doesn't really mind neither, and hoped that there are villages in some part of the mountain.

"I would be answering with A Mountain with a spring on top. What about you, Shuichi?" Himiko turned to the man beside her. "If you can go to any mountain, which mountain would you go to?"

Shuichi smiled and told her his answer. The red-head looked at him weird for a second before nodding in agreement of some sort. With that, Shuichi continued his journey to the second floor of the academy. He could've sworn as he began climbing the stairs, he passed by Miyu and Gonta going to where the warehouse/dining room would be. He peeked from the corner to see Miu trying to pull something out for Gonta, but then was interrupted when K1-B0 walked in on them.

And then there was a wacky chase scene. Full with sexual innuendo and caveman speak.

Shuichi continued to climb the stairs, but then stopped when he found Kaito and Kokichi rushing down the floor. They both stopped, panted hard, and turned to Shuichi when they found him utterly dumbfounded by their situation. Without hesitation, Kaito warned Shuichi that he'd be in trouble if he stayed here too long, but when he explained that he was just going to go to Kaede's Ultimate Lab, they left him with an audible "All men for themselves!" and "Protect us meatshield!" from the two of them. Which voice belonged to which wasn't really clear to him, as what they said was being blurred by the sudden presence of an angry Maki leaping from the top of the stair and landing to his side. Instinctively, the usually silent girl shot a thousand glare at the dark-haired boy and made him wince.

"What are you doing here?"

He pulled out the enveloped letter in such brisk pace that even Maki was surprised that her eyes couldn't keep up with him. After nodding to him, signaling his approval to the second floor, the girl went back to become all business again and began her hunt to catch two of the most unlikely pair of doofus that would cooperate in stealing her undergarment.

...That last part was unnecessary, but Maki does what Maki does, he guessed.

Before the classroom-B and classroom-A, was Tsumugi staring at something as usual, not bothered on being disrupted from her silence. She would once in a while turn to something else, but still in her thinking phase. She wouldn't budge even if she would be knocked by something dense right now, for she now is the ultimate density itself. Still, Shuichi was rather worried about what she would be like if she continued this bad habit of her, especially with the Monokubs seemingly trying to harass her in every way possible. From ruffling her hair, lifting up her skirt, or trying to stealthily cosplay her as a gothic lolita girl. When Shuichi entered Kaede's lab, the noise outside became silent. Definitely weird.

Inside the lab, Kaede was sitting on her seat with her hands kissing the piano keys. She turned to Shuichi, who was still trying to wrap around the fact about why he was summoned here, and Kaede's single sentence made Shuichi be more at ease, as he should have been from the start.

"Come sit next to me, Shuichi."

"Alright, I'll grab a seat."

"No, no need. I want to teach you how to play a duet."

Shuichi nodded and walked to where Kaede was sitting and Kaede scoot herself over to Shuichi's left, where Shuichi was now sitting on her previous spot on the chair. Breathing in deep, Kaede instructed about what they were about to play today. It was a classical piece that was easy enough to do, even for a beginner like Shuichi. As the melody played from the string in the piano, the man beside the woman was silent, but his expression was with his sincerest and calmest smile.

Then, in the middle of it all, Kaede asked Shuichi: "Hey, Shuichi. Do you have any faith in humanity?"

Smiling, the man answered: "Let's say I do, then what of it?"

"Then I would say that we're a pretty good match."

The piano's tune reverberated around the room. The simple melody became the ambiance as the both of them began to perform tirelessly for minutes, and then hours, until the sky outside was dark with the moon now hanging in the background. After much deliberation, both of them stopped, and from Kaede's bag, she pulled out two canned juice: One grape-flavored, the other melon-flavored. I chose the melon one.

"Kaede."

"Yes, Shuichi?"

"The moon is beautiful tonight."

Kaede only smiled.

"It is, isn't it?"


End file.
